1. Work & Family: Latin American & Caribbean Women in Search of a New Balance
By Laura Chioda & Augusto de La Torre
(Chief Economist, Latin America & Caribbean Region)

2. Four decades of important achievements in the gender parity agenda
Education
Health
Female Labor Force Participation
Female political participation
Social Norms
All of this in the context of broader strides towards social equity in LAC (poverty, income inequality, middle class)

3. Closing of gender education gap
In LAC, girls have closed the education gap (enrollment, achievement, attainment) & now tend to outperform boys
Notable exception: indigenous population where poverty pockets are chronic
In Ecuador, the education gaps are closed, and unlike other countries in the region, men have kept pace with women
Ecuadorian women have, on average, more years of education that match the regional average.
Graph: female/male ratio of completed years for a given level of education
11/9/2018
Data: Barro & Lee (2011)

4. Women outlive men, not least because of major drop in maternal mortality rates
In 1960 life expectancy was 57 (W) & 54 (M); (W) and 70.5 (M) at present
In 1980: LAC had 159 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births; 67 at present (-58%)
Ecuador ‘s MMR in the 1980s was 288; today is 77, equivalent to 73% reduction.
A lot of heterogeneity in maternal mortality:
Caribbean (254) , Andean (103), central America (57), southern (41), tropical (57)
Chilean women (81.9) have same life expectancy of OECD (82.66)
Data: Maternal Mortality data Murray et. Al (2010). Note: Figures for LAC correspond to a population weighted average
11/9/2018

5. Fertility in LAC is converging toward OECD levels, even though women in LAC continue to marry young, despite gains in education
6 births per woman in 1960 to 2.3 at present (OECD 1.7)
Today Ecuador’s fertility rate is 2.4; destined for further declines: fertility rate for cohort born between is only 1.4
In Ecuador, age at 1st marriage remains unchanged: it was from 21.2 in 1970s, to 21.5 in 2000s
Data: World Bank (2011)
11/9/2018

6. Data Sources: Demographic Health Surveys and WDI
Adolescent fertility rates (births per 1,000 girls age 15-19) remain high in LAC
LAC’s Adolescent fertility rate is 70; above OECD, but in line with SAR (70) and below SSA (111)
From the late 90s to 2009, Ecuador ‘s decline in adolescent fertility was among the lowest in the region (-3%); it is today 82
Today in Ecuador: 4.14% of girls age % of girls age (75% of which married) have children
Data Sources: Demographic Health Surveys and WDI
11/9/2018

7. An additional 70 million women have joined LAC’s labor force since the 1980s
Since the 1960s, female LFP doubled in most countries, and tripled in Brazil
Female LFP rose from 36% in 80s to 52% in 2010
Today women represent 40% of total labor force
Ecuador lags the region in FLFP. It was 30% in the 1980s today is 47.1%
Data: World Bank (2011)
11/9/2018